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Tilghman selected as one of 'America's Best Leaders'

Posted November 14, 2007; 03:12 p.m.

by Staff

Princeton President Shirley M. Tilghman is one of 18 people highlighted in U.S. News & World Report as "America's Best Leaders."

In its Nov. 19 issue, the magazine profiles individuals it identifies as men and women who define leadership in this country today. These people "excel in their chosen fields but … also embrace a concept of leadership as a broader societal responsibility," according to the magazine.

The honorees were selected by a committee of academic, government, business and nonprofit leaders convened by the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, which collaborated on the project with U.S. News. The panel accepted nominations from a wide range of sources and compiled research on each one.

Tilghman, a world-renowned scholar and leader in the field of molecular biology, was profiled in an article titled "From Lab Table to President's Chair." "Welcoming and unpretentious, Tilghman is known also for being candid and intellectually tough," the article states.

Tilghman was cited in a companion feature on "The Spirit of Teamwork" for her collaboration with Ruth Simmons, president of Brown University, on efforts to assist Dillard University in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Simmons, who was a Princeton administrator from 1983 to 1990 and 1992 to 1995, also was among those honored. Other leaders with Princeton connections included former Secretary of State James Baker, a member of Princeton's class of 1952, for his role as co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group; and Andrea Jung, a member of Princeton's class of 1979, who is chairman and CEO of Avon Products Inc.

The recognition by U.S. News is among several honors Tilghman has received this fall. She also was awarded honorary degrees last month from Mills College in Oakland, Calif., Memorial University of Newfoundland and Ryerson University in Toronto.

In addition, she is one of 21 "Women of the Year" featured in the December issue of Glamour magazine, which appeared on newsstands Nov. 13. Tilghman was selected along with the other three female presidents of Ivy League institutions, Simmons of Brown, Drew Faust of Harvard and Amy Gutmann of Penn. "By promoting female scholars and urging women into male-dominated fields, these presidents are incubating the next generation of leaders," according to the magazine.
Toni Morrison, Princeton's Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities Emeritus, also was among the "extraordinary and inspirational women" honored by Glamour.